By Dare Akogun
A report by the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has identified inadequate rainfall and flooding as the two key adverse climatic factors that affected the yield of smallholder farmers in Northeast Nigeria in the year 2022.
The flood, (NEMA), affected 245,361 persons and led to the total destruction of 27,339 Hectares of farmlands in Borno, Adamawa, Yobe, and Gombe states.
In its bid to cushion the effect of the adverse climatic conditions on farm produce harvested by farmers at the end of the 2022 wet season, the USAID-funded Feed the Future Nigeria Rural Resilience Activity said about 299 smallholder farmers have qualified to receive their farmer’s insurance payout claims from Pula Advisors and their partners.
Farmers who acquired insurance between July and December 2022 in Gombe and Yobe states, received their payout claims on 22nd March 2023, during the Payout Ceremony in the states, while eligible participants in Borno and Adamawa states will receive their payout by the end of March 2023.
The ceremonies were organised by the Rural Resilience Activity, in collaboration with Pula Advisors and Diamond Development Initiatives (DDI), the private sector partners working with the Activity to protect the investment of smallholder farmers through agricultural insurance, access to climate-smart seeds and other on-farm good agricultural practices (GAP).
In his remark Chief of Party, Feed the Future Nigeria Rural Resilience Activity, Margarita Aswani, said the payout will supplement the low yields recorded by farmers in the wet season, due to the flooding that led to the massive destruction of farmlands in the Northeast.
Mercy Corps Nigeria’s Country Director Ndubisi Anyanwu, while also speaking at the event said “For us, it’s about helping our participants to build resilience to economic and climatic shocks like flooding and drought. We hope this payout would reduce the losses of participants who lost part of their yield to flood and drought, and prepare them for the next wet season”.
Speaking during the payout event, the Co-Founder and President of Pula Advisors Rose Goslinga, said, “As the effects of climate change heighten the risks in agriculture and food production, the need to protect the investments of smallholder farmers has never been greater.
“Our comprehensive insurance coverage pays out if the average yield achieved in a season is lower than the insured yield is a pivotal instrument in de-risking agricultural investments and contributes to the growth and resilience of insured farmers,” she said.
Each of the 299 smallholder farmers (92 in Adamawa, 44 in Southern Borno, 153 in Gombe, and 10 in Yobe) spread across five Agro-Ecological Zones (AEZs) are eligible to receive an amount between N15,000 and N30,000 depending on the AEZ within the state, the type of crop (maize, rice, cowpea or groundnut), the Measured Actual Yield per Hectare, and the Realized Yield as provided by the insurance policy.
